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Two of her uncles went missing, she told us when we asked why she’d left her homeland as a child.

After the uncles, her favorite cousin.

She and her brother kissed their parents.

Last year, my husband and I revised our wedding.

Our initial wedding was in October 2020, almost by accident. We had been planning on getting married then anyway and were halfway to planning the big traditional wedding, with the catering and the DJ and all the rest. Sometime around July, it started becoming clear that the world wouldn’t be cooperating with our plans.

“The more I saw in myself, the deeper I went into myself, the deeper I was able to go in the Gospel. It almost felt like the Gospel was showing a wound in the text to me. It felt like a very, almost tender, invitation, saying well, let me show you this. It felt sort of like an invitation saying, can you help?”

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. But my sermons!

Season Two: In Search of Truth

While teaching in a prison, I got to know a gardener.

Theologian Richard Mouw calls for a God-chastened love of country. 

This dad, who came to Wee Worship with three young sons, was one of the most miserable people I’ve encountered at church. Wee Worship is a service that embraces the needs and gifts of very young children. In addition to looking glum and avoiding eye contact, the dad appeared to be overwhelmed and stressed to the max by the three boys. Conversation was forced and difficult.

Iam more than a little obsessed with bodies and their limits and possibilities. Maybe it’s because my own body gives me so much trouble. (I have complex Crohn’s disease and live with the aftereffects of extensive bowel surgery.) Maybe it’s because I think Ludwig Wittgenstein was onto something when he said, “The human body is the best picture of the human soul.”

In response to our request for essays on disguise, we received many compelling reflections. Below is a selection. The next two topics for reader submissions are Splash and Sleep—read more.